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Mpls, MN, United States

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Friday, November 02, 2007

"I'm afraid of Americans..."

...but I really dig David Bowie. Or, I Wish This Counted as Research for My Alternative Media Take-Home Essay.

Today my sister sent me a link to the Flying Conchords performing "The Humans are Dead," which was awesome. From there I linked to their also hilarious "Bowie Song," and from there surfed to Bowie himself in his 1969 video for "Space Oddity." I tired of that quickly, but thoroughly enjoyed his live performance of "Afraid of Americans" and then the version featuring Nine Inch Nails (which reminded me of a teen fashion magazine I'd read back in the 90s suggesting that poor Seattleite Trent Reznor, though cute, would be so much happier if he'd just get some sun). Finally there was Bowie performing "The Man Who Sold the World," and Nirvana's amazing live cover of the same.

Last week, I watched Nek's video of "Cielo e Terra," which was probably a mistake, as I cried the whole way through it. Today's video surfing adventure was a much happier experience, though I did feel a little silly realizing I was inches from my laptop screen, a goofy grin on my face as I stared, mesmerized, at the videos.

There's a lot I could say about how this all really does relate to the subjects I'm supposed to be writing about in this paper (due Thursday), especially Vannevar Bush's Memex, Ted Nelson's "jumps" and "hypertexts," Kay and Goldberg's Dynabook, and even Barthes' dead author and new reader--but because I just spent so long on YouTube, I'm totally out of time.

7 comments:

m said...

bowie is hot. and so is that one guy from conchords with the big teeth.

mmmm.

CëRïSë said...

So hot. And so is the late Kurt Cobain. Mmmm indeed.

Anonymous said...

"I'm Afraid of Americans" is awesome! The song and associated video with Trent blew my mind back in high-school. Haven't thought about that song in a long time.

And I can't comment on the hotness of the men involved... so I'm just going to leave things at that.

Leah said...

Thanks for taking us on a tour of your internet surfing habits. I'm not sure I could leave such a clear record of what linked to what during my internet sessions. I'm impressed!

Daniel said...

If you can find it, look for Bowie's "Man Who Sold the World" SNL performance. He has Nomi as one of his backup singers.

colepay

Daniel said...

After going to your link to the song, it is just the fourth one down in the queue.

CëRïSë said...

Wow, how had I never heard of Klaus Nomi? I found the video here. Thanks!

(And Leah, I had to use the back button to retrace my steps--I didn't remember everything!)